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The Confessor
|Next_book = }} is the third book in the Gabriel Allon series. A former agent of the Office is murdered. Gabriel Allon is told to investigate and the trail leads to a secret society employing a professional killer to protect the Catholic Church from the truth about its own past. A Death Benjamin Stern is murdered in Munich. At the Vatican, Luigi Donati tells Pope Paul VII about the murder. Luigi adds that they should assume that the Pope's enemies are willing to murder him as well. Gabriel Allon is called away from his work as an art restorer by Ari Shamron to go to Munich and make sure there is nothing in Benjamin's apartment to connect him to the Office. Gabriel travels to Munich using Ehud Landau as his identity and meets with detective Axel Weiss of the Munich police and with Lillian Ratzinger, the caretaker of Benjamin's apartment. Gabriel examines the apartment and notes that Benjamin's computer and the contents of his safe have been taken. Ratzinger gives Gabriel an envelope containing Benjamin's glasses which had been mailed from a hotel in Italy. Weiss takes Gabriel back to his hotel, then makes a call to the Chief, who tells Weiss to have Gabriel followed and to get a photograph of him. The Vatican and Crux Vera The newly-elected Pope Paul VII lunches with Cardinal Marco Brindisi, the Vatican secretary of state. He tells the cardinal that he intends to continue the inquiry into the Church's activity—or inactivity—regarding the Jews during World War II. Brindisi is more astounded when the Pope tells him that he will make as public announcement of his plan at the Great Synagogue of Rome. After Brindisi leaves without the usual ceremony, Paul VII tells Donati that they have disturbed a sleeping cobra. Gabriel meets with Benjamin's department head, Helmut Berger, who feigns sympathy about Benjamin's death. Afterward, he sees that he is being followed by Weiss and arranges to have a car placed where he can drive away, surprising Weiss. Weiss calls Rome and reports to the chief, who again demands a photograph of Gabriel. Cardinal Brindisi is also the spiritual leader of Crux Vera, a secret society whose purpose is to defend the reputation and power of the Catholic Church at all costs. Roberto Pucci serves as the financial executive while Carlo Casagrande, a former general within the Carabinieri, sees to security matters. The society enjoys considerable power within the Vatican because of Brindisi's position and because Casagrande is the head of the Vatican security office. Because of their zealous commitment to the church, these three leaders vehemently oppose any policy that could darken the church’s reputation. Gabriel Allon’s independent homicide investigation further complicates this dilemma, because the clues that he seeks will connect the Crux Vera to Stern's death. Casagrande is concerned that nothing in the computer files or paper documents taken by Eric Lange disclosed who inside the church had provided information to Stern. Casagrande believes that he knows the identity of Stern's collaborator. Brindisi approves Casagrande's plans to proceed and Pucci agrees to provide funding. The Meeting Gabriel travels to the village of Brenzone on Lake Garda in northern Italy. There he learns that Stern had visited the local Convent of the Sacred Heart. He contacts its superior, Mother Vincenza. She verifies that Stern had met with her to research places where Jews sought refuge during the Holocaust and she shows Allon a basement where Jews purportedly stayed. Upon Gabriel’s departure, Mother Vincenza secretly informs Crux Vera of Gabriel’s visit. However, an unidentified caller warns Allon that Mother Vincenza is lying and that the truth can only be found through Sister Regina and Martin Luther. Gabriel acquires a copy of Stern's telephone bill from Giancomo the concierge at the hotel in Brenzone and learns that Stern telephoned Peter Malone, an investigative reported, in London. Stern’s murderer is a professional hitman from Switzerland named Eric Lange, from whom Casagrande commissions yet another murder; he places the killer's payment in a safety deposit box at Becker & Puhl Bank with the assistance of Konrad Becker. Returning to Venice, Gabriel meets with Rabbi Zolli and encounters Chiara Zolli, his daughter, for the first time. Rabbi Zolli explains that to his knowledge no Jews were harboured in the Brenzone abbey. In fact, evidence seems to suggest the opposite: that the church expedited the removal of Jews and later helped Nazi leaders escape judgement. In Rome, Casagrande meets with Achille Bartoletti of the Italian police and describes Gabriel as a would-be papal assassin. Gabriel then travels to Vienna to inform his colleague Eli Lavon of his findings. Eli reveals that the Martin Luther in question was the Nazi director of the German Foreign Office, which collaborated with European governments to track down and remove Jews. According to Eli, the Nazis especially wished to maintain positive relations with the Vatican, for a denouncement of the Holocaust by a pope would have certainly made the Nazis’ work more difficult. Gabriel and Eli conclude that there must be some connection between Nazi leader Martin Luther and the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Gabriel seeks assistance from Ephraim Ben-Avraham at the Vienna Station to contact Ari Shamron in Israel. After coordinating with Ari, Gabriel travels to London. Mordecai has had Andrew Malone under surveillance. Malone tells Gabriel about Stern’s connection to Malone, whose recent book about Crux Vera had raised Sterns interest. Stern also hired Malone to track down two missing monsignors, Cesare Felici and Tomaso Manzini, who were presumed dead and that the Roman police detective Alessio Rossi had been forced to close his files about their cases. Malone suggests that Crux Vera orchestrated Stern’s death to keep further details about the society’s identity and secrets from being published. Shortly after Allon leaves Malone, Eric Lange arrives and kills the journalist. As Lange leaves Malone’s flat, an Mordecai takes a picture of the elusive Leopard. In Rome, Casagrande and Brindisi confer about the Leopard while Lange himself crosses the English Channel and spends some time in bed with Katrine Boussard, who is also a killer. Later, Lange reviews the files on the computer he stole after killing Malone and learns that the Gabriel is the man who killed Abu Jihad. Lange is furious with Casagrande for not telling him he was involving him with Israelis and Lange goes to Paris to find Rashid Husseini and tell him about Gabriel. Lange arranges for Husseini to find and track Gabriel in Rome and to notify Lange so the latter can go to Rome to kill Gabriel. Gabriel contacts Alessio Rossi in Rome. Rossi later visits Gabriel at the hotel; a Vatican security operative sees him and reports to Casagrande. Casagrande notifies Achille Bartoletti. In the meantime, Rashid Husseini notifies Lange about Gabriel's location and Lange arranges a flight to Rome. Rossi tells Gabriel that he is suspected of being a would-be papal assassin and about the missing persons cases involving Monsignors Felici and Manzini. He adds that during World War II both priests served on the German desk of the Vatican secretariat of state. He adds that he also learned that an elderly widow named Regina Carcassi, who had once been a nun, disappeared at about the same time. The hotel is then raided by the carabinieri. A gun battle ensues; Alessio Rossi is killed and Gabriel is wounded. Gabriel calls the Rome Station for an extraction. Chiara Zolli rescues Allon and reveals that she also works for the Office and has been monitoring him throughout his investigation. She treats his wound and guards him through the night. Shimon Pazner, the chief of the Rome Station is furious, mostly with Shamron, that Gabriel is operating in his territory without his knowledge. Such is the scale of the manhunt for Allon that Pazner sees no option but to evacuate him to Israel. Pazner assigned Chiara the task of taking Gabriel to the evacuation point. Eric Lange arrives in Rome and is picked up by Marwan Aziz, who gives him a gun. Husseini has located Gabriel and Lange and Aziz pursue, but are taken out by an Office chase car. Gabriel and Chiara board a yacht whose captain intends to take them to Israel but they hijack the yacht and to return to Europe. Aziz drops Lange of at a rail station to leav e Italy and Lange kills Aziz before he departs.